I've just returned from a truly memorable trip to Komodo. First a disclaimer: as some of you know, I work on the White Manta and this heavily discounted trip was on its sister ship, the Black Manta. I'll try to keep the boat promotion to a minimum anyway.
The Black Manta, which used to be the one I worked on, has been overhauled after 6 years of operation and this was the first I had seen it. For those who have been on the boat before, you'll see that the main noticeable difference is upgrade of the cabins on the lower deck. They are now the better cabins, imho.
The Indonesian boat crew, most who have been working for us for a while (one for 8 years), operated with the same efficiency as in the past. The dive crew, including Cedric (Cruise Director) and guides Stanny and Denny were all very impressive. They had been hired specifically for their knowledge of area around Komodo and Raja Ampat and it was obvious that knowledge was very evident. Cedric was great fun to hang out with, keeps safety as the top priority closely followed by customer happiness and his foreign language skills are out and out shocking. He's an excellent host. Denny can find the tiniest of frog fishes at will and Stanny spots pygmy seahorses from 20 meters away.
The diving ranged from truly spectacular to delightfully surprising. The water temperature varied almost as much. At Manta Alley, in the south, it got down to 22.4c Most dives in the north were 26.0-26.4c. There, I just used 0.5mm wetsuit. Other dives in the south were about 24.0-24.5c. On these sites, I added a Scubapro vest/hood. Only at Manta Alley and Three Sisters did I wear a 2/3mm wetsuit with the vest/hood. Note though that I have a faair amoint of natural insulation! Some other guests were diving in the north with 5mm suits, hoods and gloves and they were complaining about the cold there. For some reason, they didn’t mention the cold as much in the south when they had the same on. The viz in the north was 30-50m at almost all sites. In the south, it was more like 10-25m. I define viz as the distance you can CLEARLY see details of critters so these may be low estimates by other measures.
The dives with some (not, by any means, all) details:
Pulau Tebolan – a checkout dive for most but my wife and I just loosely followed the guides. It was easy to spot ornate ghost pipefish at this site just outside the Labuan Bajo harbor. Lots of nudis, lobsters and fire dartfish to keep anyone interested.
Pulau Sebayor – stunning reef (which I later figure out is the norm in Komodo). Overwhelmed by the number of fish I can see.
K2, inside Pulau Batna’s volcano – viz dropped in mid-dive from 50m to 10m but it didn’t stop us from finding a cool purple leaf fish and the biggest crocodile flathead I have ever heard of.
Sweet or Swift Dream – weirdest current I recall. We expected a drift dive but it sputtered with fast water for 20 seconds then nothing for the next 20 before starting over with a short rush, then nothing. Pygmy seahorses and clown triggers were the critters of note.
GPS Point – it was rumored to have been dynamite fishing recently but I could not see evidence. The reef looked as pristine as we had seen so far and the incredible number of fish were still around. A laughing blue ribbon eel was the best spot and a huge cuttlefish doing the safety stop with us, touching distance away. I am certain there are harlequin shrimp at this site but the only evidence I saw was the freshly amputated starfish near the walls.
Batu Monoco – my least favorite dive, a night dive. It was nice but I see as good around Tioman. Baby squid, arrow crabs, mantis shrimp, and a beautiful spotted porcelain crab were decent finds.
Chrystal Rock – Wow, wow, wow!!! I was surprised by the amount of dead coral on this site – very rare for Komodo – but amazed at the big fish action. Sharks (several dozen white tip, black tip, grays) swimming every different direction. Huge schools of giant trevallies and sweetlips, eagle rays, massive groupers, huge Napoleon wrasse. Do they put steroids in the water here?
Shotgun – what a ride! Be careful at this site though, it is easy to fly through the gap while ascending too fast. Lots of sharks, shark eggs, friendly turtles here.
Castle Rock – my favorite dive here. Again, sharks were everywhere. Dolphins did a swim past too for the fun of it. Huge schools of fusiliers, giant trevallies, black jacks and tuna as well as a bunch more pygmy seahorses and too many lionfish to count.
Batu Bolong – other than giant groupers and Napoleon wrasse, the site was mainly for macro with lots of different types of shrimp – many new to me – and several nudibranchs species either eating, hunting, mating or laying eggs.
Tatawa Kechil – again, so many fish everywhere that the mind gets boggled trying to concentrate on seeing individuals. I guess that’s why schooling works to confuse predators. Juvenile fingered dragonets, barramundi cod, lots of morays and sweetlips stick in my memory from the site.
Tatawa Besar – here is where I saw Denny in action. He turned over several pieces of dead coral throughout the dive and found thumbnail-sized frogfish on about half of them. This was during a pretty fast drift dive too!
Blue Sebayor – my favorite night dive of the trip while following both Denny & Stanny. They had a competition to find the best and tiniest stuff. We saw a 5mm squid, many squat lobsters, featherstar shrimp, many species of nudibranchs, golden mantis shrimp, the always cool juvenile pinnate batfish, anemone shrimp, little banded coral shrimp, etc.
Cannibal Rock – another great site where we demanded to re-dive later in the day and do another night dive too. Good finds included large reef octopi, many nudibranchs including a favorite - Pikachu, a basketball-sized frogfish, an (almost) perfectly camouflaged baby red frogfish that looked so must a part of the sponge that it called home that divers were staring at in for minutes before agreeing it was alive, giant morays, crocodile fish, bobtail squid, mantis shrimp and squat lobsters.
Torpedo Alley – unusual critters included roundbelly cowfish and many nudibranchs including a rare giant Komodo species.
Manta Alley – We were told to expect cold, low viz and mantas. We were three for three here. Actually, we were four for three – as we got to the deepest part of the dive at the beginning, we bumped into a mola-mola getting cleaned. He only hung around for three minutes but, as it was my first, it was special. This was a short deep dive – only 50 minutes but after we left the mola-mola and got to where the mantas should be, I’d say we spent 30 of the last 40 minutes with at least three mantas in sight. There were as many as six with sight at one time but they just kept coming back until a second boat rained divers directly on the cleaning station. Really guys – don’t chase mantas!!!! We had to leave anyway but I wasn’t happy.
Three Sisters – a nice, gentle – but cold – dive centered around three large boulders. While we didn’t see a lot at the main site, venturing 20 meters in any direction got us to see yet more pygmy seahorses, small octopi, lots of nudibranchs and other macro.
My overall impression was that Komodo was an outstanding place to see vast expanses of pristine reef with an incredible amount of varied and colorful marine life of all sizes. There were lots of “WOW” moments with the sharks, cool nudis, mola-mola, mantas, frogfishes as well as the general topography and drifts. I saw lots of species which were new to me. It does not match Lembeh for the amount of unusual critters but it makes up for that with incredible scenery and the sheer numbers of fish. The Maldives is still the place where I have seen more of the big fish but, again, Komodo’s coral life and variety / number of fish outshone that place too. It doesn’t have Sipadan’s tornados of fish, huge schools of bumpheads or the turtles but I think I still prefer Komodo. The diving was also better than the other places I have been, limited as they are but they include Honduras, Cayman, Malapascua, Similans, Layang Layang, Kota Kinabalu, Banda, Timor, Boracay and local sites in Malaysia, Indonesia & Singapore. Note I have not been to Raja Ampat, Pulau, most Philippine sites and a zillion other places that you may believe are better. But I hope to get to those places.
Random tips:
-Consider arriving in Labuan Bajo a day early and leave a buffer day in Bali on the way back.
-Flights to LB have a history of being unreliable. Most boats (I believe) offer a free night’s stay on board if you arrive early and there are some decent hotels in town.
-Have the pizza at Made in Italy on the main coastal road in town.
-I’ve given you temperatures that we experienced and may be considered normal for this time of year, I believe. We were told that it is easy to get 2c colder water at the places too. You have to judge how well you tolerate cold though. I ended up warm enough in the thin suits I had whereas others seem to be freezing in double the coverage before they even hit the water. I think much of it is in the mind.
-As long as you have your cold water gear with you and you are likely transiting through Bali, consider adding a few dives at Nusa Penida, particularly if you around June to September. The mola-molas are worth it.
-Trans Nusa, Merpati and Lion Air fly between Bali and Labuan Bajo. I never thought these words would cross my lips but I think Merpati is the safest and most reliable.
-If your boat sails in and out of Bali instead of LB, expect to save some airfare but you get some mediocre diving (and some decent diving too) enroute. The water can be VERY rough at times too between islands.
That’s all I can think of now.
The Black Manta, which used to be the one I worked on, has been overhauled after 6 years of operation and this was the first I had seen it. For those who have been on the boat before, you'll see that the main noticeable difference is upgrade of the cabins on the lower deck. They are now the better cabins, imho.
The Indonesian boat crew, most who have been working for us for a while (one for 8 years), operated with the same efficiency as in the past. The dive crew, including Cedric (Cruise Director) and guides Stanny and Denny were all very impressive. They had been hired specifically for their knowledge of area around Komodo and Raja Ampat and it was obvious that knowledge was very evident. Cedric was great fun to hang out with, keeps safety as the top priority closely followed by customer happiness and his foreign language skills are out and out shocking. He's an excellent host. Denny can find the tiniest of frog fishes at will and Stanny spots pygmy seahorses from 20 meters away.
The diving ranged from truly spectacular to delightfully surprising. The water temperature varied almost as much. At Manta Alley, in the south, it got down to 22.4c Most dives in the north were 26.0-26.4c. There, I just used 0.5mm wetsuit. Other dives in the south were about 24.0-24.5c. On these sites, I added a Scubapro vest/hood. Only at Manta Alley and Three Sisters did I wear a 2/3mm wetsuit with the vest/hood. Note though that I have a faair amoint of natural insulation! Some other guests were diving in the north with 5mm suits, hoods and gloves and they were complaining about the cold there. For some reason, they didn’t mention the cold as much in the south when they had the same on. The viz in the north was 30-50m at almost all sites. In the south, it was more like 10-25m. I define viz as the distance you can CLEARLY see details of critters so these may be low estimates by other measures.
The dives with some (not, by any means, all) details:
Pulau Tebolan – a checkout dive for most but my wife and I just loosely followed the guides. It was easy to spot ornate ghost pipefish at this site just outside the Labuan Bajo harbor. Lots of nudis, lobsters and fire dartfish to keep anyone interested.
Pulau Sebayor – stunning reef (which I later figure out is the norm in Komodo). Overwhelmed by the number of fish I can see.
K2, inside Pulau Batna’s volcano – viz dropped in mid-dive from 50m to 10m but it didn’t stop us from finding a cool purple leaf fish and the biggest crocodile flathead I have ever heard of.
Sweet or Swift Dream – weirdest current I recall. We expected a drift dive but it sputtered with fast water for 20 seconds then nothing for the next 20 before starting over with a short rush, then nothing. Pygmy seahorses and clown triggers were the critters of note.
GPS Point – it was rumored to have been dynamite fishing recently but I could not see evidence. The reef looked as pristine as we had seen so far and the incredible number of fish were still around. A laughing blue ribbon eel was the best spot and a huge cuttlefish doing the safety stop with us, touching distance away. I am certain there are harlequin shrimp at this site but the only evidence I saw was the freshly amputated starfish near the walls.
Batu Monoco – my least favorite dive, a night dive. It was nice but I see as good around Tioman. Baby squid, arrow crabs, mantis shrimp, and a beautiful spotted porcelain crab were decent finds.
Chrystal Rock – Wow, wow, wow!!! I was surprised by the amount of dead coral on this site – very rare for Komodo – but amazed at the big fish action. Sharks (several dozen white tip, black tip, grays) swimming every different direction. Huge schools of giant trevallies and sweetlips, eagle rays, massive groupers, huge Napoleon wrasse. Do they put steroids in the water here?
Shotgun – what a ride! Be careful at this site though, it is easy to fly through the gap while ascending too fast. Lots of sharks, shark eggs, friendly turtles here.
Castle Rock – my favorite dive here. Again, sharks were everywhere. Dolphins did a swim past too for the fun of it. Huge schools of fusiliers, giant trevallies, black jacks and tuna as well as a bunch more pygmy seahorses and too many lionfish to count.
Batu Bolong – other than giant groupers and Napoleon wrasse, the site was mainly for macro with lots of different types of shrimp – many new to me – and several nudibranchs species either eating, hunting, mating or laying eggs.
Tatawa Kechil – again, so many fish everywhere that the mind gets boggled trying to concentrate on seeing individuals. I guess that’s why schooling works to confuse predators. Juvenile fingered dragonets, barramundi cod, lots of morays and sweetlips stick in my memory from the site.
Tatawa Besar – here is where I saw Denny in action. He turned over several pieces of dead coral throughout the dive and found thumbnail-sized frogfish on about half of them. This was during a pretty fast drift dive too!
Blue Sebayor – my favorite night dive of the trip while following both Denny & Stanny. They had a competition to find the best and tiniest stuff. We saw a 5mm squid, many squat lobsters, featherstar shrimp, many species of nudibranchs, golden mantis shrimp, the always cool juvenile pinnate batfish, anemone shrimp, little banded coral shrimp, etc.
Cannibal Rock – another great site where we demanded to re-dive later in the day and do another night dive too. Good finds included large reef octopi, many nudibranchs including a favorite - Pikachu, a basketball-sized frogfish, an (almost) perfectly camouflaged baby red frogfish that looked so must a part of the sponge that it called home that divers were staring at in for minutes before agreeing it was alive, giant morays, crocodile fish, bobtail squid, mantis shrimp and squat lobsters.
Torpedo Alley – unusual critters included roundbelly cowfish and many nudibranchs including a rare giant Komodo species.
Manta Alley – We were told to expect cold, low viz and mantas. We were three for three here. Actually, we were four for three – as we got to the deepest part of the dive at the beginning, we bumped into a mola-mola getting cleaned. He only hung around for three minutes but, as it was my first, it was special. This was a short deep dive – only 50 minutes but after we left the mola-mola and got to where the mantas should be, I’d say we spent 30 of the last 40 minutes with at least three mantas in sight. There were as many as six with sight at one time but they just kept coming back until a second boat rained divers directly on the cleaning station. Really guys – don’t chase mantas!!!! We had to leave anyway but I wasn’t happy.
Three Sisters – a nice, gentle – but cold – dive centered around three large boulders. While we didn’t see a lot at the main site, venturing 20 meters in any direction got us to see yet more pygmy seahorses, small octopi, lots of nudibranchs and other macro.
My overall impression was that Komodo was an outstanding place to see vast expanses of pristine reef with an incredible amount of varied and colorful marine life of all sizes. There were lots of “WOW” moments with the sharks, cool nudis, mola-mola, mantas, frogfishes as well as the general topography and drifts. I saw lots of species which were new to me. It does not match Lembeh for the amount of unusual critters but it makes up for that with incredible scenery and the sheer numbers of fish. The Maldives is still the place where I have seen more of the big fish but, again, Komodo’s coral life and variety / number of fish outshone that place too. It doesn’t have Sipadan’s tornados of fish, huge schools of bumpheads or the turtles but I think I still prefer Komodo. The diving was also better than the other places I have been, limited as they are but they include Honduras, Cayman, Malapascua, Similans, Layang Layang, Kota Kinabalu, Banda, Timor, Boracay and local sites in Malaysia, Indonesia & Singapore. Note I have not been to Raja Ampat, Pulau, most Philippine sites and a zillion other places that you may believe are better. But I hope to get to those places.
Random tips:
-Consider arriving in Labuan Bajo a day early and leave a buffer day in Bali on the way back.
-Flights to LB have a history of being unreliable. Most boats (I believe) offer a free night’s stay on board if you arrive early and there are some decent hotels in town.
-Have the pizza at Made in Italy on the main coastal road in town.
-I’ve given you temperatures that we experienced and may be considered normal for this time of year, I believe. We were told that it is easy to get 2c colder water at the places too. You have to judge how well you tolerate cold though. I ended up warm enough in the thin suits I had whereas others seem to be freezing in double the coverage before they even hit the water. I think much of it is in the mind.
-As long as you have your cold water gear with you and you are likely transiting through Bali, consider adding a few dives at Nusa Penida, particularly if you around June to September. The mola-molas are worth it.
-Trans Nusa, Merpati and Lion Air fly between Bali and Labuan Bajo. I never thought these words would cross my lips but I think Merpati is the safest and most reliable.
-If your boat sails in and out of Bali instead of LB, expect to save some airfare but you get some mediocre diving (and some decent diving too) enroute. The water can be VERY rough at times too between islands.
That’s all I can think of now.
and less fishs... we remember the real paradise and this time we find only a very nice diving... we are unlucky with the sharks... we remember sharks in castlerock like in the maldives... also crystal have fat greysharks tree years ago....... this time we don't see any real shark... no grey.. no black.. only the whitetips(i prefer a dogt tunas
